Jiang Shouzhong turned his head to look in the direction where the shadow had just disappeared, his eyebrows tightly furrowed.
Ran Qingchen and Li Nanshuang had been missing for several days now. Since both won were highly skilled in cultivation, Jiang Shouzhong was not too worried, guessing that they might have gone to investigate sothing.
However, an intelligence report suddenly ca suggesting a rescue mission, and Jiang Shouzhong could not ascertain the authenticity of the information at that mont.
Who was the source of the intelligence report?
Could this be a trap?
After all, his identity at that ti was Jiang Yi, and if soone was directly asking him to conduct a rescue, either they knew his real identity, or they were just suspicious, attempting to test him deliberately.
Jiang Shouzhong was sowhat hesitant.
But in the end, he decided to take the risk and check out the situation.
"Master, I need to step out for a bit, I’ll do my howork when I return," Jiang Shouzhong said.
Dugu Luoxue didn’t make it difficult for him, and simply nodded in agreent.
Jiang Shouzhong changed into his night clothes and headed straight for the Su Family.
He had previously visited the Shura City in the underground palace, and one of the entrances was at the Su Family’s, so he made his way there with familiarity.
All along the way, his mind was fully concentrated, his spiritual senses extended outward, ticulously observing every slight movent of the wind and grass, yet he didn’t catch any trace of being followed, and his vigilance gradually dissipated.
Guided by mory, Jiang Shouzhong arrived at the now-ruined underground palace, and through the deep, long passageway, he ca to the coast of the Black Sea.
The boundless black sea spread out like a curtain spilled from the vast night sky, stretching all the way to et the horizon.
But unlike the calm mirror-like surface last ti, the Black Sea was seemingly stirred by an invisible force at the mont, with raging waves continuously churning as if a great demon was causing a storm beneath the sea.
"Roar—"
From the dark shadows, a massive figure suddenly erged.
It was the tiger demon used specifically to carry people across the sea.
The tiger demon, originally looking fierce and malevolent, paused abruptly when it saw Jiang Shouzhong clearly, glancing around as if to make sure the blade-carrying woman who had beaten it up last ti was not present.
Once sure she was not around, the tiger demon breathed a sigh of relief, then continued to roar at Jiang Shouzhong, demonstrating its king-of-tigers deanor.
"Carry to the other side," Jiang Shouzhong said.
The tiger demon snorted through its nose.
Jiang Shouzhong wasn’t in the mood for any fuss, so he took out the Zodiac Map and raised the Seven Kills Blade, pretending to be about to capture it.
Having already seen Shangguan Yunjin use this divine instrunt to capture the ink dragon in the Black Sea, the tiger demon was taken aback at the sight of the Zodiac Map, imdiately dropped its aggressive deanor, and obediently went into the sea.
Looking back, it even humd subserviently towards Jiang Shouzhong.
It seed to be saying: Brother, I was just roaring a bit, why are you getting so edgy?
Jiang Shouzhong put away the Zodiac Map and sat on the tiger’s back.
The tiger demon swam towards the other shore.
Upon reaching the shore, Jiang Shouzhong signaled for the tiger demon to wait, while he entered Asura City to search for the whereabouts of the two won.
Compared to the desolation and solitude of his last visit, Asura City this ti was vaguely wrapped in a layer of red mist, creating an eerie atmosphere.
Having no idea where Ran Qingchen and Li Nanshuang might be, Jiang Shouzhong had no choice but to search blindly. Fortunately, his luck was good, and he quickly discovered an area that had collapsed.
This area clearly had just experienced a violent explosion, and the originally ancient buildings had been completely reduced to a heap of rubble and ruins.
"This must have been caused by that earlier explosion," he thought.
With a thoughtful mind, Jiang Shouzhong carefully searched the area and soon found an entrance to a half-collapsed tunnel.
After clearing away so debris at the entrance, Jiang Shouzhong crawled inside.
The passage was narrow and stuffy, emitting a faint blood odor that was not off-putting or nauseating,
About a quarter of an hour later, he erged from the passage.
What lay before him was a towering palace, its scale so grand that it was astounding.
However, the surrounding scenery was shockingly horrifying.
Piles of white bones were heaped like mountains around the palace, and the towering walls were tinged with a morbid blood-red color, as if dyed by the blood of countless creatures, providing a strong visual shock.
In a trance, it seed as if an invisible aura of slaughter and evil was spreading from the depths of the palace,
Jiang Shouzhong stood dumbfounded, too shocked to speak.
He had originally thought that a hidden Ancient Asura City within the underground palace was shocking enough, but he hadn’t expected that there was an even more mysterious and colossal structure underneath the ancient city.
Could this be the true headquarters of the Asura Clan?
Just then, Jiang Shouzhong suddenly caught sight of several figures appearing in the distance.
He instinctively hid himself.
The figures slowly approached, their conversation clearly audible.
"Have you found the people?"
"Not yet, but they didn’t enter the array platform."
"Then they must have fled westward. ng, you take two people and encircle from behind, the rest block the exits. We mustn’t let these two girls escape!"
"Yes!"
"..."
After the others left, Jiang Shouzhong erged from hiding, his expression somber.
From their conversation, it was certain that Ran Qingchen and Li Nanshuang were here, and the situation was not optimistic.
He wondered how these two girls ended up in this place.
Jiang Shouzhong didn’t have ti to think further and quietly followed the lead group.
——
In the deep and empty stone chamber, the air was so thick it felt like it could wring out water, the dampness penetrating to the bone, making it hard to breathe.
The stone walls were adorned with strings of bright red little bells.
These bells were delicate and brightly colored, yet each bell lacked a clapper.
The floor of the stone chamber was covered in a vast and ancient talisman, its lines twisted and coiled, weaving a complex and inscrutable totem,
"What kind of damn place is this?"
Li Nanshuang used her sleeve to wipe sweat from her forehead, but accidentally sared blood from her sleeve onto her fair face, leaving several bloody streaks tangled in her hair.
Beside her, Ran Qingchen sat on a stone platform, pale-faced with one hand on her abdon.
Blood seeped from the woman’s belly, and the wound seed serious.
Exhausted, Ran Qingchen said, "The secret records of the Archive Hall in the Liushan Division told of the Asura Clan. They were quite powerful back in the day, even having their own army."
The notorious Asura Undead Army was on par with the Snow Domain Divine Soldiers, hence the saying, "Asura in the south, Snow Domain in the north."
Now the Snow Domain Divine Soldiers still exist, though not as glorious as before. As for the Asura Undead Army, it has long been lost to history.
The place we are in now is the Shura Hall of the Dead, and each bell here represents a dead soldier. As the undead pass, the bells fall silent...cough cough cough..."
Midway through speaking, Ran Qingchen suddenly began to cough.
Li Nanshuang took out two elixirs and fed them to her, but the effect wasn’t very good; neither the external wound on the abdon nor the internal injuries of Ran Qingchen showed signs of healing.
This was extrely rare for cultivators from Heaven Desolation Boundary.
It could only an that the injuries were too bizarre.
Blaming herself, Li Nanshuang said, "It’s my fault for being too greedy and rash. If I had listened to you, we wouldn’t be in this situation now."
Ran Qingchen managed to stop coughing and gave a wry smile, "It’s aningless to talk about that now."
She gazed at the empty stone chamber and said self-mockingly, "It’s ironic. This is the second ti I’ve been trapped in Asura City. Last ti I was with soone else and thought I was going to die. This ti with you here, it feels like I’m really going to die."
"Don’t talk nonsense."
Li Nanshuang frowned slightly and muttered, "You silly Mugua, you really are foolish. Why would you bother saving ? Seriously."
A faint smile erged on Ran Qingchen’s pale face:
"I’m not used to owing anyone anything. You risked your life to save last ti, so I had to repay the favor. Otherwise, you’d definitely brag about it to Jiang Mo, making it seem like I’m weak."
"Am I that sort of person?"
Li Nanshuang rolled her eyes, "Besides, you are weak. When I saved you, I wasn’t injured. You saved and almost lost your own life, so foolish it’s infuriating."
Ran Qingchen glared at her: "Is it the sa? Didn’t you see how strong that monster we encountered was? If it wasn’t for that glass lamp suddenly breaking and burying it inside, could we have had a chance to escape?"
Although Li Nanshuang appeared disdainful on the surface, the mory of that sudden monster appearance still scared her.
She had seen many demons, but never anything like it.
It was both revolting and frightening.
"Keep talking, what’s the deal with this Shura Hall of the Dead?" Li Nanshuang asked curiously.
Ran Qingchen shook her head: "The records in the Archive Hall aren’t very clear; too much information is missing. After all, many records were destroyed when the previous dynasty fell.
The gist is that aside from Ancestral Shura, the true leader of the Asura Clan was a woman nad the Asura Queen. She was notorious for her heavy bloodshed. The white bones we saw outside the palace were her handiwork."
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